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Newsfile: "Jerry Falwell portrays Michael Dukakis as a supporter of witchcraft and bestiality"

(AP) A liberal activist group is urging Republicans to repudiate a comic book being touted by conservative evangelist Jerry Falwell that portrays Michael Dukakis as a supporter of witchcraft and bestiality.

Falwell is urging his followers to paper the political landscape with copies of the 30-page book, titled "Magical Mike: The Real Story of Mike Dukakis." Among other things, it depicts the Democratic presidential nominee in a dress, wig and pearls.

"The last thing the Bush campaign, the Republican Party and the presidential campaign need is the distribution of 10 million copies of a comic book that's chock full of enough intolerance to offend just about everyone except Jerry Falwell," John Buchanan, chairman of People for the American Way, said Friday.

In Washington, Dick Hafer of Lanham, Md., the book's producer, said in an interview Friday night that the material is all documented and the drawings are stylized to make a point.

"I think it's fair," said Hafer, who calls himself the "Comics Commando" on the booklet. "I think it certainly has a point of view ... I'd say it's accurate, that's the most important thing," he added.

Hafer said he has done other comic books on political topics, including one called "Every Family Has One" during Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's 1982 re-election race, depicting the Massachusetts Democrat as a black sheep.

In the Dukakis comic, the Massachusetts governor is called "Sheriff Pansy" for his crime-fighting record, especially the state's prison furlough program.

The book suggests that Dukakis would ruin the nation's defense system and describes him as an enemy of babies for his stand in favor of women being allowed to have abortions. In one drawing, Dukakis is dressed in doctor's garb holding the hose of a vacuum.

Elsewhere, a supporter is shown holding a sign that says: "The best baby is a dead baby."

Falwell, founder of the conservative Moral Majority, displayed the book Thursday night at a rally in advance of the Monday start of the Republican National Convention.

Samples of the booklet had been passed out before Falwell spoke and he subsequently explained how he had been impressed with the artist who drew the comic book and purchased several thousand copies to bring with him to New Orleans.

Falwell urged the audience to buy some on their way out of the meeting and distribute them to everyone they knew.

"I want to shoot the guy's legs out from under him," Falwell said of Dukakis. "I want to expose him. This man is to the left of Walter Mondale, George McGovern and, maybe, to the left of (Soviet leader Mikhail) Gorbachev."

Asked whether he agreed with Falwell's aim, Hafer said, "I would like to see people have a chance to get all this information in one spot. I think people who have the facts can make a good decision."

One page in the comic book lists what it describes as bills Dukakis filed in 1970 as a state representative, including measures repealing a law punishing blasphemy, the law against fornication and "the law prohibiting the crime against nature (either with mankind or with beast)."

The book says Dukakis appointed a "priestess of witchcraft as the official witch of Salem" over the objections of the Salem City Council and questions whether the Greek Orthodox church is aware of this.

The book also suggests that Dukakis panders to special interest. At one point it shows him dressed as a woman with a wig, dress and strand of pearls. At another, it has him riding the shoulders of Jesse Jackson.

"With you in the White House," the book says, "all the far-left groupies like McGovern, Mondale, Abzug, etc. will be back manning the federal battering ram against the freedoms of the citizens."

The book also attacks Dukakis' wife, Kitty; Greek Orthodox Archbishop Iakovos; and members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, including former Rep. Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Sen. Edward Kennedy and Reps. Barney Frank and Gerry Studds.

"This is a state that has consistently sent two admitted homosexuals ... along with Ted Kennedy and Tip O'Neill! The voters have the right to vote for whoever they want ... but these kind of folk don't remotely represent the thinking of most respectable Americans," the book says.

Frank and Studds have said they are homosexual.

The book encourages people to get Dukakis' signature on it to make it a collector's item.